The Fruit of the Spirit Grows While You Grow Spiritually

The fruit of the spirit are difficult for youth to understand how to operate in or how to practice growing in these characteristics. If God grants us gifts, doesn't he also provide us with the fruit to use our gifts? God does bless each one of us with gifts which are placed within us when we are babies. We can't get rid of these or even trade them in for different gifts because each of us has gifts unique to us. However fruit are cultivated so we aren't born with them and we have to continuously practice using them in order to learn character.

Maturing in the Fruit of the Spirit

God allows us to mature the fruit of the spirit as we are growing throughout our lives. Just like a baby apple tree doesn't bear or grow fruit in it's first few years, human babies don't show their fruit either. Have you ever noticed how demanding babies and toddlers are? They want alot but aren't able to contribute much other than looking cute and lovable. They don't have to show their fruit though, because they know they'll get what they want when they want it. However God has planted a fruit seed deep inside of them. They have their entire life to grow that seedling into a strong plant. Some children receive alot of guidance and help in developing their seedling while others have to rely on learning the hard way- by themselves. We all have to constantly tend our seedling or plant to make sure it grows up strong into a mighty fruit tree. However as young adults you have probably realized that you can no longer demand your way through life. You may still be cute but most people don't have the patience for that type of behavior. Learning to display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are not easy- even for adults! But I guarantee you that the earlier you learn the character of these, the easier life will be and the more favor you will have with God and others.

Let me ask you a question. Have you ever seen a gardener tending his/her plants? They water, fertilize, weed and sometimes spray the plants to keep bugs off. They do everything in their power to keep that plant living and growing. Well, we certainly aren't plants but we should take a lesson from the plants. We need to consistently be doing the same and watching our reactions to others. We also need to ask ourselves why we get angry or blow up easily. Taking the time to realize that we can control our emotions is a way of growing the fruit inside us. Tending these emotions deep inside of us is like the little plant that requires constant care and attention to that which God has planted deep within each of us. We have to cultivate the fruit of the spirit within us which means that we constantly watch how we act towards others. If you mess up and blow it, don't be so hard on yourself. Realizing the mistake is the first part of growth. Next time, you will be more observant and take steps to practice the steps of love, self-control or patience.

Most of the fruits revolve around the core fruit of love. The fruit of love is the most important fruit because we need to learn how to love in order to be able to show the other fruits. The last fruit of self-control is also important. These two can be seen as bookends that are required to keep all the other fruit contained and upright. Let me give you an example, say you are planning a sleepover with your closest friends. Because they are your friends, you love them, right? Well, let's say you really want to watch a movie during the evening and you let everyone know, but another of your friends says, "I don't want to watch a movie, that's a really stupid idea!" All of a sudden you went from loving your friend to wishing your friend was not invited to the party. If you are already walking in the fruit of love, things like that don't really bother you. Hopefully, you also display the fruits of patience and self-control so you don't jump down your friend's throat by saying, "I want a movie and not having a movie is the stupid idea- you fool"!! Instead you calmly say "I'd like a movie and don't think it's stupid, but if everyone else wants to do something else, that's fine with me". If you display the fruits of love, patience and self-control toward your fruitless friend, the added bonus of the fruit of joy fills you up. Yep, you get a bonus feeling of joy when you can control your feelings towards those who are rude or disrespectful to you. That's just the way God has worked it all out. Whenever we make right choices regarding our emotions and feelings and choose to display the fruit of the spirit instead of anger, pride or hate we always benefit by having a good feeling come over us.

What does good fruit look like?

Those that consistently walk in the fruit of the spirit begin bearing good fruit. When we see an orange tree with big beautiful oranges we expect to pull an orange off and peel the skin to find a juicy, sweet orange. But sometimes we get tricked and find that the orange is dried up or flavorless. We are the same way. Sometimes we see someone and think 'wow, that person is really involved in church and must be producing good fruit', but the Bible shows us how to find out if their fruit truly is good. We are to look at a person's heart. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks(Matthew 12:34). If we stick around long enough we will realize whether their fruit is good, rotten or doesn't exist. If we pray, pay attention and listen with our spirit, it will reveal the fruit of the person. If your fruit is rotten or non existent you can pray for God to soften your heart and help you to be sensitive to those around you. It is really more important to God that you are developing these characteristics than it is to you! So go for it and ask Him for help.

Displaying the fruit is difficult, especially at first. But as Christians we need to keep pressing forward and modeling the behavior Jesus demonstrated for us. You've heard of the saying 'Practice Make Perfect', right? Well, when we continue to practice displaying the fruit of the spirit then we grow up spiritually. Finally that little apple seed that was deeply planted inside us as babies soon matures into a giant apple tree which is producing a bumper crop of crisp, juicy apples. But beware; if you have produced pretty good fruit and you get out of practice in displaying your fruit sometimes you realize that your fruit is not quite as mature as you thought. When we are caught off guard, sometimes our fruit gets 'squeezed' and we realize that we need to focus more on developing that fruit. Our fruit can get squeezed when we are forced into a situation where we have to display a great amount of patience or even humility. But that is just a gentle reminder from God that the fruits of patience or humility are fruits we all need to work on further maturing. Remember that God wants to mature and strengthen the fruit within us so that he can use us for great things. So each time you discover a weakness, realize that God is preparing you for something big he has planned for you and he needs for your fruit to be fully mature in order for you to thrive in that situation.